Fire Drills and Coffee Dates (Gratsu)
by chello8893
Summary: Who knew a fire alarm at 3 in the morning would turn out like this?


**Yay for gratsu! It has been WWWAAAAAAAYYYYYYY too long since I've written these dorks, so have some! :D I got the idea from a prompt on tumblr! (:**

 _What's that noise?_ There was an irritating beeping coming from somewhere nearby, pulling me out of sleep. I slammed my hand down on the top of my alarm clock, cracking my eyes open when the noise didn't stop. "The hell?" I frowned, noticing it was only three in the morning.

"Dragneel!" Came one of my neighbor's voices from the hallway as someone knocked on my door. "The fire alarm went off. They're clearing everyone out!"

"Damn," I grumbled, making my way out of bed. Happy, my Russian Blue, rubbed against my legs. "You heard Jellal," I sighed, picking him up. "Up and out."

The apartment's lobby was crowded with residents as we all made our way outside. Once there, we had to wait in the field across from the apartment building while a group of firefighters went inside to check why the alarm had gone off.

"Did you smell smoke?"

"Where was the fire coming from?"

Murmurs came from the crowd around me, telling me everyone was just as confused as I was. No one had seen a fire or any smoke, so I assumed it had been a prank.

"Why'd the asshole have to pull the alarm in the middle of the night?" Someone complained from beside me. I looked over, nearly dropping Happy when I spotted my across-the-hall neighbor, Gray Fullbuster, standing next to me.

Clad only in a pair of black boxer-briefs.

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" My mouth spouted out before I could stop it.

He frowned at me, looking down at his attire—or lack thereof. "Ah, hell. I forgot to put pants on before I left the apartment." He shrugged, smirking at me, "too late now, I guess."

"Yeah," I commented, staring intently at the apartment building to avoid looking at him. His black hair was sticking up all over his head from sleep, and every time he yawned and stretched his arms above his head, the muscles in his abdomen flexed.

"What?" He asked, catching me staring at the smooth muscles in his arms as he stretched again.

"Nothing," I frowned. "When are they going to be done checking out the building?" I complained to Happy." He answered with a complaintive meow.

"Poor guy probably has a headache from all that noise," Gray chuckled, petting the cat on the head. Happy purred in response, causing Gray to grin.

The action sent my heart beating more fervently in my chest than it should have, and heat burned the tips of my ears. _Why did it have to be_ him _out here practically naked?_ I inwardly groaned, wishing the officials would hurry up and let us back inside—or that Gray would move to a different part of the crowd, one where I couldn't see him. _Yeah right. You know you don't mind the view,_ the thought rang through my head, practically mocking.

"Alright, everyone, it's safe to go back inside," a police officer told the crowd, much to my relief. I practically ran inside, losing Gray in the crowd somewhere as I went back to my apartment.

Once inside with the door shut safely behind me, I let out a long sigh, the image of Gray and his absent clothing remaining persistently in my mind. I'd liked him since practically the first month I'd moved into the building, but had never done anything about those feelings. Worse than that, every conversation I had with him usually ended in some kind of argument, so he probably hated my guts.

 _He's not interested in me,_ that's _for sure._

I had just laid back down in my bed when there was a knock at the door. Grumbling angrily, I got out of bed and trudged through the apartment to the front door. _If they're evacuating us again, I swear I'm going to—_ "Gray?"

"Hey," he responded, causally.

"What are you doing here?"

"I live across the hall," he said, frowning.

"I know that," I retorted, crossing my arms, "I mean, why are you at my door instead of at your own apartment?"

"I was going to talk to you outside but you disappeared as soon as they gave us the okay to return to our apartments," he told me.

"What'd you want to talk to me about?" I asked. _It's nearly four in the morning, what could he want to talk about?_

"Well, since I'm sure you were just as pissed about being woken up in the middle of the night as I was, and I'm sure you'll be just as tired as I will be in a few hours when we have to wake up for work, I was wondering if you'd want to grab a coffee with me."

"What?" I asked, stupidly. _Is he doing what I think he's doing?_

He sighed, messing with his already unruly hair, "I'm asking you out, Natsu."

 _Yes, he's doing exactly what I think he's doing._ He was actually asking me out. At four in the morning, standing in my doorway in his underwear, Gray Fullbuster was asking me out on a coffee date.

"Sure," I finally managed, knowing my face was probably a darker shade of pink than my hair.

With a nod, he turned and walked across the hall to his door. "See you in a few hours, Natsu."

"And don't forget your pants, stripper" I called.

He chuckled, turning to me with a smirk. "How else was I gonna be sure you'd say yes?" With that, he went inside, leaving me staring at his closed door.

"Tricky bastard," I sighed. _So, he did that on purpose._ I couldn't be mad at him, however, considering how things had worked out.

 _Looks like I've got a date with the stripper across the hall._


End file.
